The Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of an employee who used his work email to send abusive messages to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) but the decision has highlighted the governing enterprise agreement’s outdated provisions and need for change.

BULLYING: CONSIDERABLE CAUTION APPLIED AS FWC HANDS DOWN FIRST INTERIM ORDER IN BULLYING APPLICATION

The Fair Work Commission has handed down its first interim order preventing an employer from finalising an investigation into an employee’s alleged misconduct until such time as her bullying application has been considered.

UNFAIR DISMISSAL: EMPLOYEE’S BREACH OF PROCEDURE DID NOT JUSTIFY DISMISSAL

The Fair Work Commission held that, although an employee failed to comply with a valid and lawful direction given by his employer, that did not justify his dismissal. As such, the employee was awarded compensation in lieu of reinstatement.

TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT: EMPLOYEE NOT MADE REDUNDANT FOR EXERCISING WORKPLACE RIGHTS

The Federal Court of Australia dismissed an appeal from a decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia which held that an employee’s employment was terminated on the grounds of redundancy and not because he exercised a workplace right.

The Federal Circuit Court of Australia found that an accounting firm should be held liable for the breaches of a modern award committed by its restaurant-client under s 550 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

The Federal Court of Australia held that a union branch secretary acted in contempt of court when he refused to allow a search team to enter his premises following the Court’s earlier grant of a search permit of his premises.

The New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission has upheld the dismissal of an employee who stored inappropriate and pornographic emails in a “funny” folder on her work computer but has awarded her compensation on the basis that her dismissal was harsh.

UNFAIR DISMISSAL: NO ERROR IN HOLDING THAT REINSTATEMENT WAS IMPRACTICIABLE

The Western Australian Court of Appeal unanimously held that the Full Bench of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission had made no error of law in holding that it was not impracticable to reinstate an employee who had been unfairly dismissed.

The Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union of Employees, West Australian Branch v Public Transport Authority of Western Australia (2017) 69 AILR ¶400-237; [2017] WASCA 86

The Australian Industrial Law Reports(AILR) summarise industrial cases from all Australian jurisdictions on a weekly basis with links to the full text judgment provided by Austlii. Existing online subscribers are able to link through to the above mentioned decisions in Intelliconnect using the link provided. For a free trial please click here.